Support vectors and their multipliers

Section of Support vector machines, part of Statistical learning

Support vectors and their multipliers

Type Section
Taught in Support vector machines
Part Statistical learning
Questions using it 5

Complementary slackness gives three cases for a training point.

Multiplier Position Slack
\alpha_i=0 y_i f(x_i)\ge 1: outside the margin or on it, correctly classified \xi_i=0
0<\alpha_i<C y_i f(x_i)=1: exactly on the margin, a free support vector \xi_i=0
\alpha_i=C y_i f(x_i)\le 1: inside the margin or misclassified, a bound support vector \xi_i=1-y_i f(x_i)\ge 0

Only points on or inside the margin influence the fit. On one overlapping Gaussian sample, a linear fit at C=0.03 uses a wide slab and many support vectors, a fit at C=1 tightens the slab, and a fit at C=100 hugs the overlapping points. The rings in such a picture are the points with nonzero multipliers.

Used in

See also

Gram matrix · Signed distance · Vapnik’s radius–margin bound · Hard-margin primal · Hard-margin dual · Soft-margin primal · Kernel · Linear separators and the margin

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